Every sticker has a story: Students, teachers utilize stickers on water bottles, Chromebooks to express themselves

Stickers have become popular at Cedar Falls High School. People of all ages utilize stickers that they buy, collect from events and receive from friends and family to express sides of themselves that their words, clothes, actions, etc. may not express. They also utilize stickers to remember important events and have a forever reminder of something they have accomplished or experienced in their lives.

Hollis Wilson

Q: Where do you buy your stickers? A:Usually I don’t buy specifically stickers. I buy clothes that are from streetwear brands that have stickers, or I just get them. For instance, this Breeze Visual. I bought a shirt from their store, and they gave me a sticker for it. And Supreme, everything you buy comes with a sticker.” 

Q: “Why do you put stickers on your water bottle? A: “I think it’s just another way to express yourself, so I never let that go to waste.”

 Q: Is there any specific message/story behind any of the stickers? A: “Not a specific story, but this definitely represents me in a way. These stickers are from things that I like, and they all represent me.”

Q: What inspired you to buy the stickers you have today? A:I just had so many stickers from clothes that I was buying, so I needed to put them somewhere, and they were cool stickers, so they need to go somewhere.”

Q: How long did it take you to build your sticker collection? A: “I’ve been going at it for two years because I never specifically buy stickers. I always just get them, and I kind of like that, and that’s how I like to get them. It’s been a couple years of buying clothes.”

Q: Do you have any memory integrated with any of these stickers? A: “I think the Supreme sticker came with a Supreme fortune cookie. They sometimes will put random stuff in with it if you’re lucky, so it came with a fortune cookie with my shirt.” 

Q: What’s your favorite sticker and why? A: “My oldpeople sticker, because I worked really hard on it the past year and it means a lot to me.”

 

Allison Eagan :

Q: Where do you buy your stickers? A: “I get my stickers from a lot of different places actually. I know I’ve gotten some from Mohair Pear. My mom has given me some stickers. I’ve bought some online for myself. Friends have given me random stickers. These ones are actually from Goodwill. Pretty much everywhere.”

Q: Why do you put stickers on your water bottle? A:“I feel like they express who I am, like they are a part of me. They make me happy to look at, like there is a picture of my cat on my Chromebook, so during the day I think about my cat.”

Q: What do you hope to express with your Pride stickers? A: “I hope to express that I am an ally to the LGBTQ community, especially this sticker here. My Iowa Safe Schools, I am hoping to express that this school should be a safe school, regardless of gender.”

Q: What inspired you to buy the stickers you have today? A: “I just thought this plain, grey Chromebook is kinda boring. I just thought it needed some color and jazz. I did want to be able to express myself, and I thought this was an easy way.”

Q: Do you intend for any of your stickers to promote social change? “All of my pride stickers, I want to promote social change. The oldpeople sticker, gotta support local businesses. Miss Wonderful also promotes local businesses.” 

Q: If you didn’t have your stickers to speak for you on certain issues/ topics, what would you say? A: “I feel like I would vocalize my opinions more to my friends, but stickers definitely help people understand. They help start a conversation.”

Q: What is your favorite sticker and why? A: “It probably has to be the lips. I have had this one for a really long time. I just really like the design of the sticker. Even though it’s 2D, it still has a bunch of little details in the highlight and stuff, and … it looks like it’s saying “oldpeople.”

Mia Dexter:

Q: Where do you buy your stickers? A: “I buy them on Redbubble. It’s an app, also a website. Most of them are under $4 depending on the size you want. And they’re all pretty good quality too.” 

Q: Why do you put stickers on your water bottle? A: “Kind of self expression. Also because it’s cute, you know. There is not a huge reason behind it. Just cause it’s fun and I like to decorate things.” 

Q: Is there any specific message/story behind any of the stickers? A: “I have two of the same one, my sister’s tattoo business sticker just because I have to represent, and I love my sister.”

Q: What inspired you to buy the stickers you have today? A: “The first ones I didn’t buy. I got them for Christmas. My friend Ashlyn had some on her water bottle from “High School Musical” and movies. I was like, I wanted some too.” 

Q: Does your water bottle/Chromebook have a specific theme? A: “No theme. It’s just whatever I like. It’s a whole jumbled mess.”

Q: You have three baseball stickers. Are you really interested in baseball? A: “Yes, I love baseball. That’s why I have a ton of them. I am probably going to get more. I have a lot in my cart in Redbubble right now.”

Q: Has someone ever asked you about a sticker you have? What was your explanation? A: “Yeah, people ask me all the time. They ask me who that guy is. I don’t know. He’s just some guy. I got him for Christmas. I didn’t pick him out. He’s pretty cute, so I put him on there.” 

Q: What is your favorite sticker and why? A: “Probably my Bryce Harper sticker. He is the love of my life. Not much reason behind it. I really like baseball, and I really like him. He is my favorite baseball player.” 

Q: How are you going to feel when you have to take your stickers off your Chromebook? A: “I would buy my Chromebook because I want my stickers. That’s the only reason, just because I am so attached to them.”

Math teacher Joshua Wilkinson:

Q: Why do you put stickers on your water bottle? A: “I have a couple of different ones that I will bring and swap out for school. I think in most cases the water bottle will usually tell a story with the boys because usually there is some sort of theme to it, so I have one that is water skiing themed because I do a lot of water skiing in the summers. I have one Colorado, just because I spent a lot of time in Colorado hiking, camping, snow skiing, those sorts of things. I have one with me right now. It’s my marathon one, so it’s for the each of the two marathons I ran. I have more, but most of them there’s some sort of story behind them. There’s a theme with it. “

Q: What inspired you to buy the stickers you have today? A: “I think a lot of it started with my Colorado one because those are some of the oldest stickers I have. I had the stickers for a long time because I would just collect stickers from different places that I had gone to. Stickers are kind of way for me to remember places that I have gone to. Once I started getting some water bottles, the stickers started migrating their way onto the water bottles.” 

Q: Do you specifically go out and buy stickers? A: “I think it is a more as I go sort of thing. Like half marathons and marathons, you would always see those stickers on cars, and I was like, OK, I won’t put it on my car, but I want a way to display how many races I have completed, so it was just a way to do that too. After I started running those longer distances, it started to roll into that too. I was almost more proud to put the stickers on than I was to actually get the race medal. It was kind of just another place that I had been, an experience that was there.” 

Q: What is your favorite sticker and why? A: “I have a sticker from Monarch Mountain, which is a ski resort. It’s the place that I have grown up. We spent a lot of time. I grew up in Texas, but then we’d go to Colorado and go skiing. My family has a cabin close to the ski resort. It’s about an hour away. That one there is just a lot of memories from when I was growing up and going to Colorado, hiking in the mountains, doing a lot of snow skiing. That one means the most to me just because it’s a lot of the experience over the years going to the same place over and over again and having fun.”

Q: How long did it take you to build your sticker collection? A: “Some of the oldest ones I have are from college, so for me that would be 18 years ago. “

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